Chapter 101

Ganda’s Stairs, which I returned to, was very different from before.

The lower levels where wild parties once raged.

Places where newly admitted mages wore absurd outfits and caused chaos.

Now these areas were packed with people from the wilderness, wearing practical but completely unstylish clothes, their hair and beards unkempt and untrimmed. The original resident mages watched with tense expressions, their eyes darting back and forth.

The middle region, which once displayed leisure and luxury, was now occupied by disheveled mages.

The original mages in their elegant robes occasionally cast unpleasant glances but didn’t directly confront them. The outsiders were too numerous, and every one of them was formidable in their own right.

‘How should I put it… they feel familiar.’

The outsiders were unrefined. Their eyes smiled, but deep inside, a fierce determination flickered.

Rather than mages… yes, they were exactly like nomads from the wilderness.

“Hey! Lytol! Good to see you!”

“Senior Bonjin! It’s been a while! I’m on my way to see my master right now… I’ll greet you properly later!”

“Sure, sure. Finish your business first, then come say hello. Haha. This is nice. So many familiar faces everywhere. It feels like a class reunion.”

A disheveled mage greeted Lytol as he passed by. Lytol returned the greeting cheerfully. Normally, Lytol was the arrogant type… but today he seemed strangely bright yet tense.

I gestured towards the passing disheveled mages.

“Are all these people willing to give their lives for Pan-Dalus?”

“No, it’s not that kind of master-servant relationship… it would be more accurate to say they’re comrades willing to give their lives for each other.”

Lytol’s voice sounded somewhat dazed yet excited as he answered. Though he was responding, his mind seemed to be elsewhere.

“Ah… this really brings back memories. I may have lost touch after spending too much time at headquarters…”

“Headquarters?”

“Like most organizations… the Academy has particularly stark differences between headquarters and the field. Those fighting calamities on the front lines for humanity’s liberation are all field researchers. It’s the most important work… but also the most grueling.”

Lytol’s voice carried a tinge of bitterness as he spoke.

“Among the Academy’s Thirteen Mages, our master had the strongest support from field researchers. But recently, he’s been working mainly with central or academic mages for the advancement to the 91st floor. Me too…”

He sighed.

“I had completely forgotten… but all this time, my comrades have been fiercely battling calamities… I can tell just by looking at their faces. It’s… complicated for me.”

This was rather unexpected. My impression of Lytol was that he was stubborn, steeped in elitism, and mentally fragile… but the expressions he showed today were sincere and quite varied.

Lytol kept looking around restlessly. He checked people’s faces, showed delight at seeing them, and then grew anxious again.

“Ah, that’s it.”

Yuria nudged my arm lightly.

“What?”

Yuria pointed at Lytol, covering her mouth as she laughed.

“That guy. Does he have someone he likes? Among the field researchers?”

“What? How can you tell?”

“Look at him. Those are the eyes of someone searching for someone, right? So anxious.”

Yuria’s eyes curved into crescents.

* * *

As soon as we arrived at the top of Ganda’s Stairs, we were summoned by Pan-Dalus.

Meeting me alone in the principal’s office, he posed a question before even exchanging greetings for our reunion.

“I’d like to hear your thoughts, Divine Mage.”

He swallowed nervously, despite having overcome all sorts of trials throughout his life.

“The water anomalies… what do you think they mean?”

I swallowed once myself, then told him what I suspected.

After hearing everything, Pan-Dalus nodded gravely.

“I understand. There will be a general assembly in two hours. I’d like you to attend.”

The general assembly was held at Experimental Ground #1 of Solas Magic School. It was where I had dueled Lytol and the highest point of Ganda’s Stairs. Below our feet, endless clouds formed plains and mountain ranges. Wind blew, rustling our clothes. Above our heads, the heat from the three suns beat down fiercely.

Wooong-waaaeng wooong-

With a clamorous sound of Circles resonating, shadows fell over our heads. There was nothing blocking the sun, yet shadows naturally appeared… what an intriguing spell.

Murmur murmur.

As the shadows spread, people streamed in. Leaders of research institutes large and small, schools, and research nomads. There were over a hundred leaders alone. The name “general assembly” was no exaggeration.

When everyone had gathered, they were visibly divided into two groups. Those wearing neat and elegant black coats, and those dressed carelessly and shabbily like nomads. The ratio was roughly 3 to 7, with the shabby ones being the ‘field researchers.’ And…

“Are those people from ‘headquarters’?”

When I pointed to the people in neat black coats, Lytol shook his head.

“Not quite headquarters… they’re probably academic staff. They have a different atmosphere from the ‘field.’ The two groups don’t get along well.”

Lytol pointed to Oh Si-jin, who was surrounded by a group in black coats.

“The Mage of Refinement is also a famous academic. Of course, he can’t be treated like a typical academic. He has more field experience than most field researchers…”

Come to think of it, Oh Si-jin was also wearing a black coat. Now I realized it was a symbolic garment, like a doctoral gown in Earth universities.

“Mage of Refinement… it seems you successfully saved Lanciel City.”

“Impressive.”

“But reckless.”

The academic mages surrounding Oh Si-jin expressed both admiration and concern. Except for Oh Si-jin, who looked like a 16-year-old boy, most were elderly men and women with wrinkled faces.

Oh Si-jin seemed completely comfortable being surrounded by these old mages and conversed naturally with them.

“I had principles I needed to uphold, so I had no choice. But… there were unexpected gains as well.”

…What? Why are you looking at me?

Oh Si-jin suddenly gave me a meaningful glance.

Finding his gaze uncomfortable, I frowned and turned away.

When I turned, I saw the mages in shabby clothes. Their faces were so worn that the middle-aged field researchers looked older than the elderly academic mages.

I clicked my tongue.

“…How sad. They’re from the same organization, yet one side looks so leisurely while the other looks so shabby…”

Lytol gave me a strange look.

What was that about?

Anyway, after everyone had exchanged greetings and chatted for a while, an old man with white hair and a bushy beard suddenly dropped into the center of Experimental Ground #1. It was Pan-Dalus.

“I deeply thank all of you comrades who have traveled far to be here.”

Pan-Dalus’s voice was soft, yet it carried clearly through the commotion.

The murmuring quickly subsided as everyone focused on Pan-Dalus standing at the center.

“I understand you’ve come here to console this inadequate person who has been driven down to the 3rd floor, and to discuss the ‘great cataclysm’ I’ve foretold.”

The mages nodded slightly at Pan-Dalus’s words.

“However.”

Pan-Dalus’s demeanor suddenly changed. His lowered voice seemed to strike heavily at the heart.

“The plan has changed. More radically. It may be quite different from what you expected. You might even laugh in disbelief. But I stake my name as the Mage of Domestication on the seriousness of this matter. So, I am asking you all here: ‘Trust me once more!'”

Silence fell. A mage staking his name… those who understood the significance couldn’t even breathe as they looked at Pan-Dalus.

Pan-Dalus waved his hand.

From his fluttering sleeve, something like fireflies rose in a shower. These particles of light flowed neither too fast nor too slow among the mages. When the light particles touched an earlobe, Pan-Dalus’s voice and thoughts clearly appeared in the mind.

An application of message magic.

First, provocative acts by other groups were enumerated.

These included incidents I had experienced.

-An unidentified spy infiltrating Solas Magic School.

-The mysterious group that caused the disaster in Lanciel City.

-Kasha Boronin and Han Se-hoon who attacked the Divine Mage.

-The terrorism and theft at So-o Magic School.

-The annihilation of the White Stone Crossroad in the 13th Continent.

-The disappearance of the Reina Research Nomad.

And so on…

Endlessly listed incidents and accidents. The mages’ expressions darkened.

-Originally, we ascended the Tower of Covenant… to save humanity.

-But now, numerous mage organizations wage conflicts for different interests.

-Of course, their goals… have little to do with humanity’s salvation.

-Now, we must make another decision.

What kind of decision does he mean?

-To prevent further discord, we will unify a certain region.

-Over the next 5 years, we will reorganize a path stretching from at least the 1st to the 20th floor, possibly up to the 30th floor, into our territory.

-In terms of methods, we will not discriminate between persuasion, deception, threats, violence! Any method will be employed.

-Using these base regions, we will establish an advance base to prepare for extinction.

And so,

A story that should have taken at least two hours to explain was instantly transmitted to everyone.

“Hmm…”

“Ahem…”

Groans were heard here and there.

“…Fight against humans? Not calamities…? Is he in his right mind?”

Some mages openly criticized Pan-Dalus.

Pan-Dalus raised his voice.

“The reason I’ve come to such an extreme conclusion!”

He looked at me.

“Is because I’m now convinced that the great cataclysm is not far off. The Divine Mage of the Baek Jun-woo Research Nomad will explain this aspect.”

More than two hundred pairs of eyes fixed on me at once.

“Hmm… a field researcher?”

“So he’s a field researcher.”

“A field researcher as the Divine Mage. Not a very fitting title.”

People muttered. Field researcher? Are they talking about me?

“As a research nomad, you are indeed classified as a field researcher.”

Lytol snickered. He gestured at our faces, barely the size of palms, and our clothes wrinkled from marching.

“Besides, anyone can tell we’re from the field, right?”

Ah… I see.

With a bitter smile, I stepped forward.

But wait…

‘How should I explain this? That the great cataclysm is imminent…’

Splash-

It was a coincidence.

The moment I stepped forward, moisture rose from the floor. The clouds that met the sky at the horizon were melting, and droplets shot upward with a patter.

“Wow…”

Someone exclaimed in amazement.

“Impossible… rain on the 3rd floor of the Tower of Covenant? And rain that rises upward?”

Someone else was shocked.

In the face of this anomaly whose cause no one had yet discovered, the previously silent ‘Lanciel’s Cube’ awakened. A gender-neutral voice reached everyone gathered through telepathy.

-This is… this is… Error. The formula does not match the phenomenon. This is…

Ah, Lanciel’s Cube. A perfect opportunity. It will naturally explain the approaching great cataclysm.

I helped the stuttering thing a little.

“It’s a distortion occurring in the Akashic Record, isn’t it?”

I clearly remember what Pan-Dalus showed me about the 91st floor. There was a great sea there. And what constituted that great sea was a single massive mana pattern. At first, that seemed strange. The water I had observed until now contained countless tiny mana patterns, just as countless H2O molecules form water. But in that great sea, there existed only one massive mana pattern. I didn’t understand it then, but now I do.

All individual records are connected to larger upper-level records. In Earth terms, it’s like Plato’s Theory of Forms. Reality is a crude reproduction of a reproduction of the ‘Forms.’ There’s a real deer, and a crude reproduction carved in wood, and then a shadow of that wooden deer cast on a cave wall. Our daily experience is just like that shadow.

So these water droplets shooting upward now are exactly that crude reproduction split from the ‘Form of Water.’ Then where is the water I need. The real water. Where is the ‘Form of Water’?

I know the answer. The Form of Water is on the 91st floor. And… it was… torn apart with the rift that day.

-Ah… Ah! That’s right! It doesn’t match the Akashic Record information stored in me. This… this…

Lanciel’s Cube flew out of my bosom. A cube that fits in one hand. A light flickered on its silver surface, and a hologram appeared in mid-air. Two patterns created by intertwining lines and shapes.

“What is that?”

“Runic language?”

“It does resemble the runic language of water…”

The mages murmured.

Runic language. The incantations inscribed when creating magical tools.

Yes. In a way, those are runic language. To me, they’re mana patterns.

One of the originally identical mana patterns began to distort and warp. That was what the mana pattern of water looked like now. The distortion in the Akashic Record at the upper level had affected the lower level.

Lanciel’s Cube spoke in a dejected voice.

-Water… becomes not water.

-The administrators’ security system will prevent water from completely transforming… but there will be side effects. That is… as a reaction, the world will be torn apart.

“You mean that continents will be torn away to become stars again, and the Tower of Covenant will split with stairs being destroyed?”

I asked calmly.

Lanciel’s Cube answered.

-YES. If ‘Tower of Covenant’ refers to the multi-layered divine realm, then yes. As soon as 3 years… as late as 10 years… so… Error. Cannot understand current situation. Chronology system not operational. What year is it after creation? Cannot access main system. Administrator…

Lanciel’s Cube floated in the air, trembling. I grabbed it firmly and put it back in my bosom. Though I had thought it was just an ego without emotions… it trembled coldly in my chest as if frightened.

Looking around, I saw mages with their mouths hanging open. I could sense bewilderment and fear in their eyes.

I moved my Circle.

Wooong-wangwangwang-

My Circle emitted mana, correcting the mana of water. Not a fundamental solution, but at least I could temporarily suppress the anomaly within a certain radius.

Perhaps… this is the kind of work we’ll need to do from now on.

Ascending the tower. Correcting the distorted mana patterns of the upper layers.

I clapped my hands.

“That’s all.”

Swoooosh…

The floating water droplets all fell at once. The mages in the hall were drenched from head to toe with cold water.